Play It Cool, Boy, Real Cool
by aspiringtoeloquence
Summary: McKinley is where Blaine's heart is... but he'd feel better if he spent more time with some of the members of New Directions.  Pre-episode 3.06, Blaine-centric .


**Title:** Play It Cool, Boy, Real Cool  
><strong>Pairings:<strong> Kurt/Blaine  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG  
><strong>Word Count: <strong>1,300ish  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> Takes place before 3.06, so through there to be safe.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> None  
><strong>Summary: <strong>McKinley is where Blaine's heart is... but he'd feel better if he'd spent more time with some of the members of New Directions. (Pre-episode 3.06, Blaine-centric).  
>AN: The demand for Blaine friendships is at an all-time high, and the last episode only added fuel to my desire for Mike and Blaine to have mic-stand fights and jump on things. Title from the _West Side Story_ song. Also, I need Blaine and Artie to sing Stereo Hearts, on account of reasons.

Blaine is staring into his locker, wondering if he actually needs to take his history textbook to class later when all that seems to be in the lesson plan is them watching every Ken Burns documentary, one after the other, while the teacher paints her nails and the jocks throw paper at each other.

Eventually his inner Dalton boy wins out, and he pulls the glossy covered text (he and Kurt had found matching book covers on sale over the summer, and the pattern was pretty much amazing) and slides it into his bag. As his hand goes to shut the locker his eyes automatically shift to the picture of Kurt that's taped next to his schedule on the inside, above his books, and in direct line of sight - not the shot from his promo poster, the one on Blaine's dresser, but a picture of them from this summer - taken with Blaine's phone while they sat in Kurt's room and talked over ideas for the Act 1 finale of_Pip Pip Hooray_. Their cheeks are pressed together like they've been a thousand times before and since, and Kurt's smile is sweet and private - a response to the "hush, you look amazing" that has just been whispered in his ear. Blaine stares at the picture for a moment, indulges himself, like he does every time he opens his locker, by remembering the smoothness of Kurt's cheek and the desperate press of lips as his phone got pushed off the bed and onto the floor. There's a tiny scratch on the case where it hit the edge of Kurt's nightstand. He can't find it in his heart to be especially sorry, and he definitely did not care at the time. Kurt had stroked his cheek, and leaned their foreheads together -

"Blaine?"

He is jolted out of the pleasant memory by a voice to his right. He closes the locker door to find Mike standing behind it, his smile a little hesitant.

"Hey!"

Mike's smile widens a little. "Hey. So, I was just talking to Puck..."

Blaine's smile falters. He and Mike got to be friends during the rehearsal process for West Side Story, and their time onstage playing _best friends_ had definitely made them more comfortable around each other than Blaine was used to with the guys in McKinley's Glee Club. He and Mike had found they had a lot in common, and after the first few rehearsals, where Blaine had been a little miffed at the fact that Kurt hadn't been cast as Riff after doing an awesome gymnastic audition, he was ready to admit that Mike played an entirely different Riff than Kurt would have (Kurt had just raised his eyebrows when Blaine first mentioned it, with a distainful "Please, Blaine, do I look like I'm interested in leading a gang? And is my voice suited for _Cool_? I'll stick with the handcuffs, thanks." Blaine had choked on his biscotti), and that his dancing stole the show.

They don't spent a lot of time hanging out together outside rehearsals, as Blaine's time pretty much goes to Kurt, and he assumes Mike's goes to Tina, but he feels good about having a positive relationship with another New Direction member. Especially as Finn seems to have a far lower opinion of him since he transferred.

So he doesn't know what Mike was talking to Puck about, that seems to involve him, but he's a little nervous.

"Yes?" He eventually manages.

"Yeah, so, about Glee Club this week -"

And there are so many ways that sentence could end. And though Blaine knows that New Directions is just shy of ridiculous enough to actually kick him out because Finn doesn't like him (plus, Kurt would probably actually maim someone on his behalf), there's a brief flash of fear that Mike has been somehow nominated to come tell him they made a mistake, they don't need his voice after all.

"I know we haven't gotten our assignment yet, but we were wondering if you were thinking of anything..."

He blinks. He has been, actually. It's a shock to the system, the New Directions method of performance, fitting the song of the moment to the theme rather than the other way around, but he's beginning to get used to it, he thinks. Ever since Westside Story, Ever since he and Kurt took the next step in their relationship (and now he's smiling again, great), he's kind of been on a music bender - every love song is suddenly totally relevant to him again, in a way that he hasn't felt since the week he and Kurt first kissed. And last night, while he was driving home from Kurt's house after their study session, he'd turned on the radio and the song that had just been starting had hit him in a totally unexpected way. He'd been planning to wait until after Mr. Schue announced the official assignment before he asked Artie if he'd like to duet with him - Blaine isn't entirely confident in his rapping skills, and anyway, the vocals overlap. And Kurt will _love_ it. Probably. Well, he made encouraging noises about it last week, when Blaine had it stuck in his head, so... Anyway. He can't wait to sing it to Kurt, and he's been humming it pretty much all day. _My heart's a stereo... it beats for you, so listen close, hear my thoughts in every note... I only pray you'll never leave me behind... Because good music can be so hard to find... I'll take your head and hold it closer to mine... Thought love was dead but now you're changing my mind..._

"I have a possible idea," he admits to Mike, who is leaning patiently against the lockers. "Why?"

He shrugs with a smile. "Puck has a song picked out, and I guess he'd like two guys for backup, and we were wondering if you'd like in. If you have some time, that is. You could probably still sing something else too, but we thought it might be fun."

The bell rings and they both realize that they need to get to math class, heading off down the hall. Blaine is fighting a huge grin, because _they want him to sing with them_. It isn't, obviously, that much of a big deal, except for the fact that, to Blaine, it _totally is_. He _can't wait_ to tell Kurt.

"Sure," he shrugs. "What's the song?"

"Van Halen? Hot for teacher?"

Blaine pauses by the door to their classroom and blinks. "Isn't that a little... inappropriate for a school glee club?"

Mike throws his books onto the desk and collapses into his seat. "That's never really stopped anyone before."

Blaine, having seen some of their performances on youtube, can't really deny that.

"Plus," Mike adds, "I doubt it's about Mr. Shue."

Again, this is a fair point, and Blaine can't really argue. He realizes that he's blocking the door and hurriedly apologizes, dropping into his seat.

"Sure, I'm in." He tries to say it nonchalantly, fighting a grin.

Mike grabs his shoulder. "Awesome. I think we're meeting after glee club, just for five minutes. We'll work out the rest later."

He nods, and takes out his notebook as today's substitute - not Ms. Corcoran, she isn't going to be there until the next day, he'd heard from Puck - starts taking roll. This is good. He'll be hanging out with Mike and Puck, and it will be great. And Kurt will be happy, because after the whole Finn thing he started feeling very uncomfortable, but they'd both decided that he shouldn't get involved, and Blaine keeps telling him that_ of course_ he doesn't want Kurt to say anything, it will all work out once everything settles down. He and Finn got along fine before he transferred... it will just take him a little while to adjust.

He hopes so, anyway.


End file.
